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Sep 04, 2020 Web Exclusive By Candace McDuffie

Fall to Pieces, Tricky’s illustrious 14th full-length LP, serves as the legendary musician’s reckoning of sorts. Although he’s infamous for being enigmatic, the producer has been letting his guard down more and more recently. His autobiography, Hell is Round the Corner, was released last year and chronicles an upbringing riddled with racism, crime, and devastating loss. Fall to Pieces sonically picks up from where the book leaves off.

Tricky solemnly navigates the depths of despair stemming from the loss of his daughter, Mazy, who suddenly passed away last spring. As the project’s title implies, maintaining any semblance of wholeness is an extremely challenging concept. However, with the help of vocalist Marta Złakowska (whom he discovered during a Polish tour years ago), he meanders through the mourning.

Opening track “Thinking Of” is off-putting in its power though it’s serenely subdued. “Close Now” shows just how haunting Złakowska and Tricky can be vocally combined, as chants of “don’t let it get you down” saturate the sparse minute and a half track. Playful soundscapes and precocious melodies from Danish singer/songwriter Oh Land (aka Nanna Øland Fabricius) on “I’m In the Doorway” is an exciting reprieve from the heavy nature of Fall to Pieces.

The album’s most solemn moment occurs on “Hate This Pain” in which Tricky bravely excavates the most tender parts of himself as he confronts the reality of losing a child: “I miss my baby while I fly/Lay my head hope I die/What a fucking game/I hate this fucking pain.”

“Fall Please” is the artist’s unapologetic take on pop and the lead single from Fall to Pieces. Its syncopated rhythms and slightly industrial feel make it edgier than most pop songs though the catchiness is undeniable.

The sultry sheen of “Like a Stone” gives way to the album’s final two tracks—“Throws Me Around” and “Vietnam”—which are cerebral and deft in their execution. Fall to Pieces is one of Tricky’s most cohesive and brilliant albums to date; he masterfully turned his grief into a work of art that provides immense consolation to those who seek it. (www.trickysite.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10